Starting Over
by IamTerra
Summary: Ryou couldn't sleep and it's been almost a year since the nightmare, Bakura, parted from him. However, haunting images of the Millennium Ring followed him this whole time and he has to go back and find it if he ever wants rest again. YGO, It's not over.
1. Lost then found

_Where is it? G_entle yet determined hazelnut eyes stared down at the rubble before their master's feet. _It must be here. There's no where else it could be._ The figure collapsed down onto both knees then began to toss stone and rubble off to his side.

It had been calling to him for nearly a whole year now. He was positive he could ignore it and that it would possibly give up. …Till it started affecting his slumber.

Images of the curve of a circle would race with golden light till the pointed shards along the lower half of the circle spread apart and the triangle with the eye would finally appear. Glowing like the morning sun but the area around it was engulfed with shadows and a sense of dark purpose.

A chunk of rough stone tore a small bit of flesh in the boy's hand. Drawing blood from the wound but he still searched on for the artifact his father had given to him so long ago. The vary same item that hated him but just couldn't keep away from him at the same time.

_Tell me. Am I close?_ He thought to himself as he rummaged some more in the filthy mess. _Don't tell me someone has gotten to you before I could._ The blood from his cut was already getting dried and coated with the mixture of sand and dust from the massive pile he was searching through.

He was breaking his promise to his friends by leading his father out here to this forbidden area. The same area in which his friend's other self had returned to the afterlife at last only for the entire place to start to crumble and decay. They had all narrowly made it out safe and the millennium items that were used to split Yugi and the pharaoh apart from one another were lost, buried within the mess and never to be thought about ever again.

The boy, Ryou, had told his father about this forbidden place and suggested that it might hold something of value to him and his research on Ancient Egypt. Of course, in order to show his father and his research crew where to go, Ryou himself would have to come along as well. Besides, it would give him some time to see his father before he would return back to Japan.

How he was ever going to look his friends in the face ever again, he wasn't sure but he had to do this. If he didn't he would have ended up in the nut house before a full year since the dark soul within the millennium ring had left him. The longer he tried to resist the temptation of finding his lost ring, the worse his symptoms became.

It was finally beginning to seem a little hopeless. Ryou's father's research team had removed a majority of the wasted tomb till it was no longer safe to use their heavy equipment in fear of damaging anything they might find important. Reasonable enough since he wanted to find the lost item before any of the others had a chance.

"Snap!" the white haired boy grumbled as his flashlight started to roll away. The mass of crumbled stone before him now thrown into the dark, much like himself thanks to the renegade source of light. "Get back here you little scamp."

Standing up without dusting himself off, the British boy meandered to retrieve the flashlight but as he bend down to pick it up, the object turned northeast. Normally one wouldn't think much over it had the item not stopped in full and **then** make a complete 170 degree turn.

_Coincidence? _Ryou pondered. He didn't think it was one for long when the flashlight started to flicker deliberately. It was as if someone were clicking it on and off but were invisible.

Sharp pain sliced through his chest when the light had ceased its flickering state.

This was it. Ryou knew for sure the object he sought was in the direction his flashlight was pointed at. The pain in his chest only confirmed it when he questioned it being a true sign of the rings presence.

Moving his hand way, the long haired boy let go of his chest and slowly walked deeper into the shadows. His flashlight, now dead from the phenomenon, no longer mattered to him for he knew almost exactly where to look.

Kneeling down once more on top of a new mess, little Ryou shifted through this piles content. Scrapping up his hands and getting dirt under his fingernails as time went on but he didn't doubt that he was getting closer. Perhaps he could finally rest once the ancient tool was in his grasp. The spirit of the ring had been dispelled along with the pharaoh wasn't he?

As much as he wanted to believe it, he knew a small piece of the dark soul resided in the golden ring. How strong it was though was undetermined but he must have had enough strength to call out his old vessel, Ryou, and drive them almost off the deep end till he caved and went to find it.

Shoveling bits of rubble asunder, Ryou slowed down in pace dramatically. The last few scoops of grit and stone were pushed aside till at last a metallic prong lay limply in the air. The Millennium Ring had finally been unearthed after almost a year.

"Will you let me be at rest now?" Ryou said into the darkness as he hoisted the metal artifact from the mess. Sand and dust fell off its smooth surface and onto his pant leg but he paid that no mind. What was a little dirt compared to achieving a task that had for so long been ignored?

Dusting off the item itself however was something entirely different. After being hidden in filth for so long, it deserved to be cleaned. So the young male blew off what little impurities remained and then proceeded to use his shirt to do the rest.

Looking at the almost luminous object, Ryou moved it to one hand and put his other into his jacket pocket. "I need to get back before father notices I'm missing." He pulled out a thin but sturdy string from his pocket. The very same one he used before when he had the ring till Yugi took it and placed it into the stone tablet to separate himself from the former pharaoh.

The string was laced through the smaller loop then through itself once till securely tightened. It was hard to believe so much misery could be caused over one object but then again, it was hard to believe what everyone had said that occurred when he was out cold during the majority of Battle City but he knew it had to be true. How else could he have ended up in the middle of a duel with the pharaoh on a blimp?

Placing the item around his neck, he released it from his grasp and allowed it to dangle over his chest. It was almost comforting having something around his neck again but he was still a little nervous about it. _What if-_

"It's funny how cold mornings are in Egypt when in the day time it's so hot," Came a voice from just a distance. Clearly now he had to be going unless if he wanted to explain why he was the only one rummaging through the ruins.

Sparing a glimpse in the general direction the voices had come from; the young Brit then headed in the opposite direction so he could take a longer rout back to his pup tent and avoid being seen.

He had come close to making it out clean from the project area when his father had just caught him coming out from the excavated hole to the ruined tomb. His eyebrow was raised in a confused questioning expression.

"Oh, there you are father." Ryou smiled most pleasantly like he usually did when trying to play innocent. Something he was extremely good at. "I thought you'd be with your team."

His parental unit then simply smiled at his son before speaking. "I was just about to join them but first," he paused and looked his child over for half a second. "I was going to ask if you wanted to come along again since you've been so helpful. By the way, what happened to you? You're absolutely filthy."

Now this was a bit of a tight spot he gotten himself into. Ryou placed one hand along the side of his newly regained artifact and fingered it a little while looking straight at his dad.

"I tripped when I went into the excavation site," it was true but not the real truth on how he became so dirty. "You weren't in there so I came back." It was funny how believable it sounded to himself even since he and everyone how knew him also knew how much of a klutz he really was.

"I see…" he replied almost skeptically. "Oh, I see you still wear that ring I've gotten you." His face now held the trademark friendly smile that his son adorn so often.

The owner of the said item returned the grin and nodded. "Yes, I thought I'd wear it today." His father had been oblivious to the fact that Ryou had not been in possession of the gift for quite some time. He also was thus not aware that, that was the entire reason he had mentioned this area and asked to come along in the first place just so he could get the millennium item back.

"So, are you coming with us? I have a feeling we're getting close to a great discovery. And it's all thanks to you." Ryou's research was most valuable in the past but this was by far the greatest in his father's eyes. He wanted to share the father son moment while his son happened to be in the same area.

"I'm sorry. I'd love to but I really am tired. That's why I was hoping to ask if I could get some sleep and then perhaps join you?" He didn't mean to lie just then, it just kind of came out wrong. He really did want to catch a few zees.

The white haired boy's dad looked almost sad for half a second till he heard his name being called from another crew member. "Very well. Do join us when you've rested. See you later son." He patted the younger on the head then rushed off to meet with the person whom had called for him.

That went better then he thought it would. Mentally shrugging it off, little Ryou meandered back towards his pup tent to finally do as he had asked from his father. There he collapsed onto the sleeping bag exhausted. The millennium Ring just managed to keep from getting laid upon. Though Ryou was finally going to be able to get some sleep for the first time in months, he had no real idea how horrible the nightmare of reality was going to be later on...

(My apologies. I've been getting terrible 'plot bunnies' and they won't let me sleep till I write and I thought. Hell, why not post this drabble and see what readers think of it? However, I do have other stories I must update as well. Just... Tell me if you think this is worth adding to or not. Thank you for reading and ja ne for now!)


	2. Ill omens

Troubling images drifted around in the once peaceful dream world that this particular male was in. Everything was just pleasant and so sweet until his happy family disappeared and darkness seeped in from all around.

Turning onto his side in his dreaming state did him no good, nor was the fact he was now biting on his own lip. The darkness that crept in was now doing a full scale invasion.

"Sister, where are you?" he screamed and looked around. The beautiful sun had defiantly vanished, hidden at least, behind a thick mask of purple shadows.

The set of violet eyes now shook along with their master's body that began to tremble. This darkness was familiar to him and though he once indulged himself in it, he forbided himself to give in to it again. He would not allow himself to be weak like he had been in the past even though he secretly knew it was this dark magic that had given him the power he once sought to control the world.

Malik was utterly alone in this nightmare yet he realized just then he was dreaming. This normally would have been enough to wake him up had it been an ordinary night terror but clearly it was not. This dream didn't want to release him back into the world of the awaken.

"Rishid, help me!" the blonde cried out. No help was to come for him in this hell though it didn't stop the one he had called for help from to hear his plea. Rishid had run into the room his master was in to find that they had managed to get caught in a tangled mess of cloud white sheets.

* * *

Deep within purple hued shadows waited another male, scorned with anger and rage with a lust for revenge filling his heart, buried in the dark abyss. Waiting for that was all he could do. The color of this hidden male's eyes hardly visible due to the same colored mists that swirled around them as he stood drenched in his hatred. He knew someone could see him and though that man himself couldn't see anyone else he knew he was being watched.

The amethyst eyes narrowed when his invisible 'stalker' was now close enough to see more then just the other's blood thirsty eyes. _I know you are there._ The expression read. _I know exactly who you are even though I can not see you myself._

There was more to the cold stare then just that. There was an aura of something much deeper then hate or anger to this captured spirit. If possible, one would say it ran even deeper then pure loathing itself. It was that rare quality that only ran in the most foul of humans, that quality that was embedded deep into the brain and blood of only the most obscure murders. It was a sort of thing that if looked at in a certain light could be found as shear genius but was commonly dismissed as utter madness.

Tan lips curled back to show off a set of sharp pearly whites that were tightly clenched together. _._ The aura was changing the colors of the shadows around it from dark purple into a rich crimson that faded into the darkest shade of black in existence. _You will die. I will see to it. You can not escape me. _

Though all the darkness was changing to better suit the other male's temper, his body was slowly growing more visible with every silent message his eyes gave off into the abyss. The platinum blonde bangs started to sway as the dark spirit's body began to twitch from all the building negative emotions. With every second of knowing that someone he despised so greatly was watching him, another symptom would appear.

_I fucking hate you! Hate, loathe, despise… _Eyelids twitched as the owner's body began to shake violently. His sun kissed nose also resorted into jumping up and down in a dance that had no set rhythm but all the same gotten faster as the words to describe his hatred went on.

Suddenly the Egyptian spirit seemed to calm down and on his knees he hunched forward. Malik watched frozen in place. Safe, for he wasn't in the realm of shadows like his counter part., he was only an observer of his own darkness' cruel fate. The yami's face was nearly touching the ground, his cold eyes no longer able to be seen but still his shoulders trembled a little under the cape and black top he adorned. The long lived silence crumbled as the yami arched his back and howled like a banshee into the cold realm around him. The noise must have been dreadfully loud though the one soul watching him couldn't hear it, the things in the Shadow Realm obviously could for they were sent scurrying away a distance to stay away from the trapped Egyptian.

_You. Will. Pay. _The lips mouthed silently when the scream had apparently died down and the phantom of Malik's past had mustered enough sanity to form the three words before bursting into a mixed mess of colors and another being came forth.

As Rishid went to help his young master wake up, Malik didn't know just how badly he needed to remain asleep at that very moment. _**Master, can you hear me?**_ His words fell to Simi-deaf ears but in the world of sleep, another figure had finally made an appearance out of the cursed darkness. This figure was someone he could never forget seeing before no matter how hard he wished he could have done so.

"Evil has resurfaced. The pharaoh's destiny has been fulfilled but somehow an evil force managed to escape its own destiny of defeat." It was Shadi! The very same soul that had came to him when the pharaoh had returned. The same man who appeared when he had done something he normally would have never done if it weren't for all the hatred and bitterness he held inside of himself that had taken root and had him kill his father…

_**Malik! Wake up! **_"He has returned." The Egyptian continued as if he couldn't hear Rishid's cries. Most likely he couldn't hear anyone or anything outside of this dream. "Darkness is threatening to overtake the world once more. He went back for the millennium-"

Tan eyelids peeled apart as the boy was now sitting upright, panting heavily, and clutching onto his sleeveless shirt just over his heart. "No," was the first word to have escaped his lips. "No…"

Malik continued to pant heavily and lick his dry lips once or twice in the process. Rishid however was growing more bewildered by the second. Just what had his master been so upset about? It wasn't like Malik to cry out in his sleep as often as he had been recently.

"Master, what happened? Was it that dream again?" Malik's step-brother ask concerned. He knew of the horrible dreams his younger charge had of the darkness that once resided in him. He assumed along with Ishizu that it was just something brought up by fear as a reminder of all the devilish things Malik did in the past as Marik. A sort of warning not to go back to his old ways or just a fear that Marik wasn't dead though they both knew it was impossible but Malik had his own doubts.

'Yamis always find a way out,' he had once said to the theory that Marik could escape. There were no signs that he had though and Bakura was put to a rest himself along with the pharaoh. There was no escaping their fate for the yamis now. Right?

Rishid had gone to get a cold washcloth for his young master's forehead and for the story of what all had just happened in the vision he had receive that ended so abruptly that he didn't get the full message of what had happened. All Rishid knew was that he wouldn't like what he was about to be told and his suspicions would be confirmed once all of the names of those thought to be dead were to be resurrected again…

* * *

Little Ryou stretched himself outside of his tent in the afternoon sunlight. That most certainly was the best rest he had gotten in a long time. There was just one thing he wanted to check up on before he would even talk to his father about plans for returning back to Japan. He wanted to, no, had to check up on all of the excavating team to make sure nothing dreadful had occurred while he was asleep. Nothing wrong in making sure no one gotten themselves possessed in the middle of the night and slaughter the remainder of your family and crew mates. One couldn't be too careful with all the talk about curses and what not.

Just as he had finished stretching, his father had come around another set of tents. Bakura's father had his hands closed around something like a child would do to a small insect they had managed to capture and wish to show off their catch to someone else.

"Ryou, just the strapping young gentleman I wanted to see." Ryou forced up a light chuckle as his parental unit stopped in front of him. At least his father was alright and he didn't seem upset so the crew must be dandy as well.

"What is it?" the white haired student asked with mild interest. He did like certain surprises, the kind where no one got hurt anyway.

Two lightly tanned hands spread apart to reveal a dusty golden object.

'_**No!**_**'** hissed a rough but low voice. It was hardly audible at best. Ryou didn't catch exactly where it had come from but his head was suddenly starting to hurt.

"Are you alright son?" Ryou nodded his head a little and passed it off as a headache and nothing more. Ryou's dad cocked his head skeptically but then let it slide as he remembered the surprise in his grasp. "It's this something. It has the same eye marking as the one in your ring!" the researcher exclaimed as one picked up the Millennium Necklace by a single gold cord. "The others think we are really onto something and that perhaps by tonight we will discover more to the secrets of the Egyptian past!"

Nodding numbly, Ryou kept a pale hand against his throbbing forehead. Why was he getting such a headache from just looking at the necklace his father's team had dug up?

"_I'm sure you'll find a good deal more if you keep the crew out all night_." Where had those words come from? It was kind of as if they were spoken in third person. "I-I think I need something to eat now," Ryou muttered after his father had agreed that it was a good idea to keep searching since they had already discovered something 'new'.

A single drop of sweat trickled down the hikari's face as he entered the pitched tent that was designated as a type of lunch hall. Curse all this heat…

"You, you're the one who will cause darkness to befall upon us all!" Ryou cringed as his dark brown eyes lifted up to see a man dressed in the traditional turban stood before him. Just what kind of trouble did he unintentionally get himself now? A tan finger was just a little less then an inch away from the tip of his nose. …_Shit_…

(I apologize if this chapter makes little sense to you. I will be more then happy to explain it to you if you would like me to and as always thank you for taking the time to read it. Well, this chapter seems even odd to me but Yu-Gi-Oh! itself has had a few 'WTF' episodes it it, right? Anyway... Comments are encouraged and suggestions are always nice. Hope Kuri at least enjoyed it... And yes, I wrote this after being sleep deprived for almost two days. Ja ne!)


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